Fastening feeding system



June 30, 1931. T. LUND FASTENING FEEDING SYSTEM Filed Dec.

//M/VM VE/V 70/4 Patented June 30, 1931 UNITED stares Eri a. g

. THOMAS LUND, or BEVERLY, .ivressaoirnslirrs, nssrenon 'ro UNITED siron A, CHINERY CORPORATION, or PATEBSON, new mass-23's. CORPORATION or raAs'sng CHUSETTS FASTENING FEEDING SYSTEM r j i Application filed December 31, 1928. Serial No. 329,380.

This invention relates to systems for delivering nails or other fastenings from such a source of supply as a distributing mechanism to a heel-attaching or other machine at which they are to be utilized.

In the feeding of nails, tacks and the like,

a common practice is to supply them in a mass to an assorting or distributing mechanism, which arranges them in an orderly 10 series and delivers them to conduits, through which they pass'in successive groups to the machine supplied. WVhen this machine is for the attachment of heels,there is customarily-interposed in the chain of feeding 16' elements a loading mechanism, receiving the nails group by group, and transferring them to the nailing mechanism of the 'heeler. It

is desirable that the nail-conduits, starting in a series arranged along a straight line at 30 the distributor, shall be capable of being variably grouped at the foot-plate of a tube-, holder,'in accordance with different nailing designs corresponding to different sizes or H 7 styles of heelseto be attached. The tubes extending between the distributor and footplate are formed in closely wound helices of spring-wire, which, for convenience in manufacture and application tothe apparatus,,are all of thesame length. They adjust themselves to the varying distances between the nail-delivering openings;of the distributor and the nail-receiving openings of the foot-plate, and may be removed readily from the latter for arrangement in different nailing designs. They may, also, by'the capacity for contraction and expansion of their reduced helical ends, be so securely fixed, in

the foot platebpenings as to effectively re- ,7 sist displacement as a result of the jar of the machine. But, since the 'tubes of unif form length must involve a compromise 'between what would most efiiciently extend between the distributor-openings and the foot-plate-openings most widely spaced, and those closest to each other, it. is found that there may be a tendency for those employed in the first-mentioned connection to be stretched at'too sharp angles between the re- H spective openings, and to have their convolutions drawn apart, while between those more closely spaced, the tubes may sag into curves of unduly short radii. Either of these conditions invites clogging of the tubes. 'The nails, especially those which are long, may not be able to pass the abrupt bends formed in either the stretched or sagging tubes, and the separation between the coils furnishes shoulders upon which the ends may'catch. These difiic'ulties are aggravated by adjustment of the tube-holder to enable it to co-operate properly with the loader for nails of different. lengths, the distance between i the distributor-openings and the'foot-plate-openings being thereby either increased or decreased. Moreover, while the tube-ends give. effective retaining engagement with the foot-plate-openings, their shifting for arrangement in different nailing designs, during which operation they are turned and forced into the openings,'is l1k6 ly t'ocause their distortion, the convolutions being so displaced that lodglng places for the nails are furnished; The present invention, as an object, allows the employment of.

the convenient flexible tubes, andavoids the difiiculties-just outlined In the attainment of this object, my improved fastening-feeding system utilizes, in combination with one or more relatively long flexible tubes, a rela tively short tube or nipple, also flexible, the latter being held in alinement with an opening, as in a foot-plate, through which'delivery is to be made. By dividin the lateral yield between the co-operating tubes, the curvature of the combined conduit adjacent to the foot-plate, where' clogging is most formed of helices of wire. The nipplethu s possesses the displacement-resisting power of the former tube-arrangement, but, as it may remain undisturbed in the foot-plate-opening for all designs, it does not become deformed, and clogging within it is avoided.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention appearing in the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 shows the essential portions of my improved feeding system in side elevation; while Fig. 2 is a broken View, partially in elevation and partially in section, of one of the conduits.

The numeral 10 designates a portion of a frame of a heel-attaching machine similar to that of Patent No. 1,138,948, issued in the name of John E. Glidden, May 11, 1919. Mounted upon a vertical rod 12 of this frame is an adjustable clamp 1% of a horizontally disposed foot-plate 16 containing a group of openings 18 including a multiple of all the nailing designs which are to be employed. This plate contains horizontal ways 20, furnishing guides for a tube-holding mug 22, through tubes 24 of which nails may be delivered to loading mechanism 26. The mug is removable for replacement by others, in which the tubes correspond in arrangement to the chosen design. The loading mechanism may include an arm oscillating in a substantially horizontal plane about the rod 12, and a block 28, in which, as in the foot-plate, is a multiple of all the nail-openings. The loading mechanism is movable from a nailreceiving position, in which the openings of its block are 'alined with those of the mug, to a nail-delivering position, where it is over the die-block of the heeling machine. The adjustment of the tube-holder by means of the clamp lt changes the space between the bottom of the holder andthe top of the loader-block, and thus provides for the most certain delivery of nails of different lengths.

Inserted in each of the openings 18 is the reduced end 30 of a short tube or nipple 32 furnished by a closely wound helix of spring-wire. the opening, having the effect of a screw which is first compressed radially and then permitted to expand to retain it firmly in frictional engagement with the opening, and avoiding the danger of displacement by the vibration of the machine. Telescoping within each of a chosen group of nipples giving the desired nailing design is the lower reduced end 34 of a tube 36 consisting of a continuous series of convolutions of spring-wire, the diameters of the tube-ends and bodies of the nipples being such that the former is movable longitudinally in the latter, the tube being thus free to adjust itself to diiferent positions it must assume, and yet continue in registration with the nipple. At the upper extremity, each tube This helix may be turned into 36 is securedin alinement with an opening 38 through a bar 40, which is a part of a nail-distributor. The distributor delivers successive groups of nails to the tubes through the bar-openings.

IVith the above-described system, it will be seen that the nipples 32 may be firmly seated in the openings 18 of the foot-plate independently of the relatively long tubes 36, and, while thus positioned, are capable of bending laterally. When the rec uced ends 34 of the tubes 36 leading from the nail-distributor are inserted within the nipples, the tubes may bend as well, the combined effect giving easy curves of relatively lon radii, so that, with the continuity of the long tubes, no abrupt departure from a straight line is introduced, and nails N may readily pass through them without clogging. Not only does this division of the curvature between the two tube-sections provide more gradual paths for the nails, but the capacity for movement of the tube-ends 34 within the nipples allows the tubes to accommodate themselves to differences in relation, both vertical and horizontal, between the distributor-openings at one end. and the foot-plateopenings at the other. In no connection need the helices be subjected to forces displacing their convolutions and thus producing nail-retaining projections within the conduits.

Having. described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a fastening-feeding system, a member provided with an opening, a relatively short flexible tube held in alinement with the opening, and a relatively long flexible fastening-conducting tube delivering to the short tube and arranged for amovement of self-adjustment longitudinally thereof.

2. In a fastening-feeding system, a plate provided with an opening, a flexible nipple inserted in the opening, and a flexible fastening-conducting tube entering the nipple, said nipple and tube being arranged at their junctures for an independent movement of self-adjustment.

3. In a fastening-feeding system, a plate provided with an opening, a flexible nipple inserted in the opening, and a flexible fastening-conducting tube telescoping within the nipple to move freely therein.

4. In a fastening-feeding system, a plate provided with an opening, a nipple formed of a helix of wire having a reduced end held frictionally within the opening, and a tube formed of a helix of wire having a reduced end extending into the nipple and arranged for free movement therein.

5. In a nail-feeding system, a foot-plate provided with a set of openings, a closely wound helical wire nipple held in each opening, and a closely wound helical wire tube arranged to enter loosely any one of the nipples.

6. In a nail-feeding system, a foot-plate provided with openings, a flexible nipple held frictionally in each opening, and a set of flexible tubes interchangeably arranged to each enter any one of the nipples.

7. In a nail-feeding system, a nail-transferring device, a tube-holder adjustable toward and from the transferring device and provided with openings, flexible nipples in the openings, and a set of flexible tubes en tering the nipples. v

8. In a nail-feeding system, a machine frame, nail-loading mechanism movable upon the frame in a substantially horizontal plane, a tube-holder adjustable upon the frame toward and from the loading mechanism and having a plate provided with openings, flexible nipples in the openings,

and a set of flexible tubes freely movable within the nipples. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

THOMAS LUND. 

